The present disclosure is related to sports, specifically to skis, and in particular to a collapsible ski.
A collapsible ski is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,150. Such a ski, in its functionally assembled state, and when ready for use, like any other ski, comprises a front area with a tip, which is bent away from the ground, a rear area with a so-called tail, which is either planar or slightly bent away from the ground, as well as a central region, which is located between the front area and the rear area and is adapted for mounting each desired ski binding. A surface, which is during use is faced towards the ground, is furnished with a sliding layer, and both longitudinal edges thereof are appropriately reinforced in order to enable guidance of the skis by turning along a hard ground. Such a ski essentially consists of at least three parts, which are connectable to each other in a detachable manner: a front part and a rear part, which are pivotally connected with each other in the central region of the ski, as well as a covering part or top plate, which is pivotally connected with the rear part and can be placed over at least a portion of the front part and rear part of the ski and which is also fixed in such position when covering the front part and rear part. The covering part is designed as a U-profile and is adapted to engage with two ribs, which are present on the surface of the front part and the rear part at least in the central region of the ski, specifically, in the area of engagement with the covering part. Those skilled in the art will understand that, by bending such a ski due to bending deformation, the covering part and in particular a free end portion thereof is exposed to forces which can cause removal of the covering part from the surface of the ski. Thus, the covering part must be firmly fixed onto the surface of the ski, wherein the location of its attachment is exposed to high stresses.
A collapsible ski is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,821. Such a concept actually enables relative movements of the covering part relative to the front part and rear part, which are pivotally connected with each other. The front part and rear part are, in the area of cooperation or engagement with the covering part, essentially thickened, by which the rigidity thereof is essentially increased. Such local increasing of rigidity changes bending characteristics of the ski as a whole, since its deflecting capability in the front portion and the rear portion is essentially higher than in the central region.
In addition, due to such a concept, the so-called standing height is also essentially changed or increased. Specifically, a distance between the sliding surface and the bottom surface of a ski boot is changed. Such a distance might be beneficial for skilled users, e.g. in ski competitions, but is in contradiction with the concept of the ski as such, since it appears to be totally inappropriate for such purposes.
Moreover, the concept of such a U-shaped covering part does not enable mounting of rails suitable for quickly mounting ski bindings. Modifying the covering part to such purposes would lead to still further increasing of the standing height and also of the weight and rigidity of the ski.
Thus, what is needed is a collapsible ski which addresses the above issues.